A GPU-accelerated visual effects overlay for Windows that creates stunning cursor effects in real-time.
MouseEffects is a modular, plugin-based application that renders beautiful visual effects following your mouse cursor. Built with DirectX 11 for maximum performance, it runs as a transparent overlay on top of all your windows.
- GPU-Accelerated Rendering - Smooth 60+ FPS effects using DirectX 11
- Plugin Architecture - Easily extensible with custom effects
- Screen Capture Integration - Effects can interact with screen content
- Multi-GPU Support - Works with hybrid graphics (Intel + NVIDIA/AMD)
- Low Resource Usage - Optimized rendering pipeline
- System Tray Integration - Runs quietly in the background
- Auto-Updates - Automatic updates via GitHub Releases (Velopack)
- Modern UI Theming - Light, Dark, or System theme with ModernWPF
MouseEffects includes 46 stunning visual effects organized into categories:
| Effect | Description |
|---|---|
| Bubbles | Floating soap bubbles with rainbow iridescence and optional screen refraction |
| Cherry Blossoms | Beautiful sakura petals floating gently with realistic tumbling motion |
| Confetti | Colorful confetti particles bursting from clicks or trailing the cursor |
| Dandelion Seeds | Delicate dandelion seeds floating on the breeze with wispy filaments |
| Falling Leaves | Autumn leaves drifting down with natural tumbling and color variations |
| Fireflies | Magical glowing fireflies that pulse and drift around the cursor |
| Firework | Stunning firework explosions with rockets, trails, and secondary bursts |
| Hearts | Floating heart particles perfect for romantic or Valentine themes |
| Particle Trail | Colorful particles following your cursor with physics simulation |
| Pixie Dust | Sparkling magical dust particles with glitter trail effects |
| Smoke | Realistic smoke wisps rising and dissipating from the cursor |
| Snowfall | Gentle snowflakes drifting down with wind effects |
| Effect | Description |
|---|---|
| Aurora | Northern lights effect with flowing colorful ribbons |
| Fire Trail | Realistic fire and flames trailing behind the cursor with smoke and embers |
| Laser Work | Directional lasers shooting from cursor with collision explosions |
| Lightning Storm | Electric lightning bolts crackling around the cursor |
| Neon Glow | Vibrant neon glow effect following cursor movement |
| Shockwave | Expanding shockwave rings emanating from clicks |
| Tesla | Electric arcs and tesla coil effects around the cursor |
| Effect | Description |
|---|---|
| Black Hole | Gravitational distortion effect pulling in nearby particles |
| Gravity Well | Particles orbiting and being attracted to the cursor |
| Nebula | Cosmic nebula clouds with swirling colors and stars |
| Portal | Swirling interdimensional portal effect at cursor position |
| Starfield Warp | Hyperspace starfield warping toward or away from cursor |
| Effect | Description |
|---|---|
| ASCIIZer | Renders screen as ASCII art with 6 modes: Classic, Matrix Rain, Dot Matrix, Typewriter, Braille, and Edge ASCII. Includes CRT effects |
| Color Blindness | CVD simulation & correction with 17 filter types using Machado/Strict algorithms |
| Color Blindness NG | Next-gen CVD plugin with LUT correction, custom presets, and interactive controls |
| Glitch | Digital glitch and distortion effects on screen content |
| Hologram | Holographic display effect with scan lines and chromatic aberration |
| Kaleidoscope | Kaleidoscopic mirror effect centered on cursor |
| Radial Dithering | Bayer-pattern dithering effect radiating from cursor |
| Retro | Retro gaming filters: CRT scanlines, LCD grid, VHS, Gameboy, and more |
| Screen Distortion | Real-time lens, ripple, and wave distortion effects |
| Tile Vibration | Vibrating tiles that capture and display screen content |
| Water Ripple | Expanding water ripples on click with realistic wave physics |
| Zoom | Magnifying lens effect with circle or rectangle shape |
| Effect | Description |
|---|---|
| Circuit | Electronic circuit board patterns growing from cursor |
| Crystal Growth | Crystalline structures growing and branching outward |
| DNA Helix | Rotating DNA double helix structure following the cursor |
| Flower Bloom | Flowers blooming and petals unfurling at cursor position |
| Ink Blot | Ink splatter and watercolor bleeding effects |
| Paint Splatter | Colorful paint splashes and drips from cursor movement |
| Pixel Explosion | Retro pixel-style explosions bursting from clicks |
| Procedural Sigil | Magical arcane sigil with procedural geometry, runes, counter-rotating rings, and glowing energy |
| Runes | Ancient mystical runes appearing and fading around cursor |
| Sacred Geometries | Sacred geometry patterns: Flower of Life, Metatron's Cube, Sri Yantra |
| Spirograph | Mathematical spirograph patterns drawn by cursor movement |
| Spotlight | Dramatic spotlight effect illuminating area around cursor |
| Effect | Description |
|---|---|
| Firework | Stunning firework explosions with rockets, trails, and secondary bursts |
| Retro Command | Missile Command-style defense game - protect cities from incoming missiles with counter-missiles |
| Retropede | Classic arcade Retropede - shoot the segmented retropede, avoid the spider, with DDT bombs |
| Space Invaders | Defend against neon invaders with rockets - includes scoring and leaderboard |
The easiest way to install MouseEffects with automatic updates:
- Download
MouseEffects-win-Setup.exefrom Releases - Run the installer - no administrator rights required
- The app installs to your user profile and updates automatically
Features:
- No admin rights needed
- Automatic background updates
- Delta updates (only downloads changes)
- Silent or notify update modes
For a no-install portable version:
- Download
MouseEffects-{version}-win-full.nupkgfrom Releases - Rename to
.zipand extract to any folder - Run
MouseEffects.App.exe
See the Building from Source guide.
- Launch MouseEffects from the Start menu
- The app starts minimized to the system tray
- Right-click the tray icon to access settings
- Enable/disable effects and adjust their parameters
- Effects render immediately on your screen
- OS: Windows 10 (1803+) or Windows 11
- Graphics: DirectX 11 compatible GPU
- Runtime: .NET 8.0 (included in MSIX package)
Comprehensive documentation is available in the Wiki:
- Features Overview
- Auto-Updates
- Plugin Reference
- Architecture Guide
- Building from Source
- MSIX Packaging
- Velopack Packaging
- Certificate Management
- Creating Custom Plugins
- Screen Capture Plugins
- ColorBlindnessNG User Guide (English)
- ColorBlindnessNG User Guide (French)
MouseEffects/
├── .github/
│ └── workflows/ # GitHub Actions CI/CD
│ └── release.yml # Automated release workflow
├── src/ # Core application
│ ├── MouseEffects.Core/ # Interfaces and base classes
│ ├── MouseEffects.DirectX/ # DirectX 11 rendering
│ ├── MouseEffects.Input/ # Mouse input handling
│ ├── MouseEffects.Overlay/ # Overlay window management
│ ├── MouseEffects.Plugins/ # Plugin loading system
│ └── MouseEffects.App/ # Main application
├── plugins/ # 46 built-in effect plugins
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.ASCIIZer/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Aurora/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.BlackHole/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Bubbles/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.CherryBlossoms/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Circuit/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.ColorBlindness/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.ColorBlindnessNG/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Confetti/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.CrystalGrowth/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.DandelionSeeds/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.DNAHelix/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.FallingLeaves/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Fireflies/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.FireTrail/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Firework/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Glitch/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.GravityWell/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Hearts/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Hologram/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.InkBlot/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Invaders/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Kaleidoscope/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.LaserWork/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.LightningStorm/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Retropede/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Nebula/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.ParticleTrail/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.PixelExplosion/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.PixieDust/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Portal/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.ProceduralSigil/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.RadialDithering/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Retro/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.RetroCommand/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.SacredGeometries/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Shockwave/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Smoke/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Snowfall/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Spirograph/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Spotlight/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.StarfieldWarp/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Tesla/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.TileVibration/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.WaterRipple/
│ └── MouseEffects.Effects.Zoom/
├── packaging/ # MSIX packaging files
└── Wiki/ # Documentation
Contributions are welcome! Please read the Architecture Guide to understand the codebase structure before submitting pull requests.
MouseEffects has a powerful plugin system. See the plugin development guides:
- Basic Plugin Development - Create effects without screen capture
- Screen Capture Plugins - Create effects that transform screen content
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
- Vortice.Windows - .NET bindings for DirectX
- SharpGen.Runtime - COM interop generation
- Velopack - Modern installer and auto-update framework
- ModernWpf - Fluent Design theme for WPF
If you find MouseEffects useful, consider supporting its development:
Your support helps keep this project alive and enables new features!
❤️ Made with love and Claude.ai ❤️